Vanderpump Rules recently became a major cultural phenomenon. In season 10 of the hit Bravo series, Tom Sandoval was caught having an affair with Raquel Leviss. It was revealed during the season 10 reunion that Raquel Leviss’ name is actually Rachel; she claimed “Raquel” is a nickname. As a Rachel, it’s not, but that’s beside the point. Leviss was enemy number 2 to Sandoval’s enemy number 1 at the reunion: she grew close with Tom’s girlfriend Ariana Madix throughout her time on the show and then it turned out that she was sleeping with Madix’s boyfriend the entire time.
Madix and Sandoval had been together since the season 2 reunion and were, in their eyes, essentially a married couple. Madix didn’t want to get married, so they got a house together and she went as far as to freeze her eggs in hopes that Sandoval would go through the process of fertilizing them with her in the future. Throughout the show, Madix was very open about her feelings on marriage and kids, but was doing all of this with Sandoval’s hopes and dreams in mind—only for it to be revealed that he was sleeping with her best friend.
The scandal, which came to be known as Scandoval, rocked the show and made the season 10 reunion something else entirely. But don’t get your hopes up for a continuation of the scandal in season 11 because it has been revealed that Leviss is not filming the show, and has instead been getting help for her mental state. According to a source close to Leviss (obtained by Entertainment Tonight), she is staying in Arizona and taking care of herself.
“Rachel has been spending time with her family in Arizona since leaving the mental health facility,” they said. “Rachel has been receiving letters from people opening up about their own mental health journey and applauding her for taking time away from filming to focus on her mental health. Rachel is in a really good place and has been enjoying a slower pace of life. She’s been doing Pilates and often goes hiking.”
The mess of Scandoval
Leviss taking care of herself is a good thing, but the “source” went on to say that returning to Vanderpump Rules is not off the table. They also stated that Leviss said everything she wanted to say at the reunion: “Rachel knows that if she films for Vanderpump Rules it won’t be good for her mental health. She feels she already said what she needed to say at the reunion and she’s putting that all behind her and is moving forward. Rachel hasn’t filmed for the new season of Vanderpump Rules, but it’s not fully off the table.”
What is a little concerning about this is that, at the time of the reunion, Leviss was reportedly being “coached” by Sandoval on what to say, and she didn’t necessarily show remorse for hurting Ariana Madix. As much as fans want Leviss back for the sake of more drama, I think she does deserve to actually have a talk with Madix (if she is willing). As much as Sandoval is at fault, Leviss did sleep with her best friend’s boyfriend and have a months-long affair with him while lying to Madix’s face.
Lies, lies, and more lies
When it was revealed that Sandoval and Leviss had been having an affair, both parties acted as if Madix should have seen it coming. From what we were shown on Vanderpump Rules, Madix and Sandoval were happy until suddenly Sandoval decided they were not. That’s not on Leviss, but her need to constantly get closer to Madix while she was sleeping with Sandoval? That is on her.
Madix has been so open on the show about her trust issues, her body image struggles, and how these things had affected her relationship with Sandoval in the past. They constantly worked through it, and even when Sandoval showed how cold he could be, they still worked on their relationship. Whatever happened to Sandoval, we don’t know, but he acted as if he was a victim by the end of the season. He became the most hated man on reality television—and rightfully so. As for Leviss, it seemed that her “remorse” was not exactly about Madix, but more because she got caught.
Still, Leviss going and getting help and staying away from the show is a good thing. Leviss does not need to be around these people because they will rightfully call her out for what she did to Ariana Madix. The situation is complicated and I’m so happy that Leviss is getting the help she needs. I hope that Leviss continues to take care of herself, and maybe this is a sign that she shouldn’t return to the show. Instead, she could reach out privately to Madix if that friendship meant something to her.
Making Sandoval and Leviss bigger stars just because of what they did to Ariana Madix is not really something I’m looking to do. Sandoval already thinks he’s the best thing to happen to anyone on this planet. Just listen to him sing “Sweet Child O’ Mine” very badly, and without knowing the words:
Let’s hope that Rachel Leviss continues to work on herself because coming back to Vanderpump Rules at this point would only be an attempt to hold onto the fame she got from the scandal, and I’d rather not watch that. Especially since we still have to be subjected to Tom Sandoval in season 11.
(featured image: Bravo)
